Head of UN nuclear watchdog: ‘Dire straits dynamic’ with Iran’s nuclear program amid Mideast wars

Associated Press

BAKU, Azerbaijan (AP) — The head of the United Nations’ nuclear watchdog will travel to Iran this week to meet with officials including its new president. Rafael Mariano Grossi, director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, says he hopes the meetings can lead to a breakthrough in monitoring the country’s nuclear program. The longstanding issue has gained new urgency as Israel has twice struck Iran amid rising tensions in the Middle East. A 2015 nuclear agreement between Iran and world powers put limits on Iran’s nuclear program, which the West fears could be used to make nuclear weapons. That deal collapsed when Donald Trump’s administration pulled the United States from it in 2018. Trump’s reelection last week raises questions about how the incoming administration may engage with Iran.